A well system, such as an oil or gas well, can include a wellbore drilled through a subterranean formation for extracting hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation. Tool assemblies deployed into the wellbore may include multiple components or devices coupled together. For example, a tool assembly may be deployed with a whipstock that is coupled to a mill using a shear bolt. In some examples, one or more tools may be disconnected from the tool assembly prior to retrieving the tool assembly from the wellbore.
During deployment, a large amount of force may be applied to a tool assembly to shear a shear bolt coupling between tools. Some shear bolts may be designed to shear at an amount of force lower than the amount of force applied to the tool assembly during deployment. For situations in which a shear bolt experiences unintended forces downhole that exceed the shear strength of the shear bolt, the shear bolt may shear and thereby prematurely decouple components of the tool assembly. Prematurely decoupling components of the tool assembly may result in costly delays or retrieval operations.